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yowm


Yowm is a Hebrew word that means a period of time.  The exact type of period of time is indicated by context. It can refer to a single day or to an age, but context gives us an understanding of what the word means in each instance.

In the historical account of creation, the it indicates a day as we know a day to be 24 hours today.  Some would argue that there could not have been a day because the Sun had not yet been created; however, this is not a rational argument.  The sun does not go around the Earth once a day.  The Earth rotates once per day whether or not the Sun is there. 

  • The words, "And God called the light day, and the darkness He call night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day," indicate a day as we know it. 
  • Every single one of the 38 times that the word, yowm, is used in connection with the words, morning, and evening, the reference is to a 24 hour day. 
  • This combination of words, yowm, morning, and evening, is never used as a metaphore.
  • Note that the word, day, is used with a number.  In Scripture, every single one of the 359 times that the word, yowm, is used with a number, it always refers to a literal, 24 hour type day.
  • The way that Genesis 1 is written, the strongest possible way of indicating a 24 hour day is used.  To interpret this otherwise is to do violence to the whole idea that language has any meaning at all.
  • To further understand this, see what God wrote in stone in Exodus 20:11: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day."
  • For those who want to follow the religion of Naturalism along with the teachings of the Bible, green plants and fruit trees were created before the sun.  In addition, there are many symbiotic relationships that are needed.  The living things would not have been able to survive very long without the Sun and symbiotic relationships if the days would have been ages.  God was the Light, just as in the end of Revelation; however, those who want day ages in Genesis are trying to find a common ground between the Bible and the counsel of the ungodly naturalists.  This just point out the fact that Naturalism is not compatible with the teachings of the Holy Spirit and the Bible.

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